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Moving: Part I

I am in the process of moving. First, I need to tell you the rather shitty way this came to be. Last April I rented an apartment owned and managed by Olivet Nazarene University. Come November I came home from work to find a letter taped to my door telling me I was essentially being evicted. Not just me, though. Anyone living in the apartment building not affiliated with the university would have to move. The letter noted that they would honor our leases for the year but would also allow us to move sooner, after March 1st, providing we give a 45-day notice. I think seven out of the twelve apartment tenants in my building are affected and now are scrambling to find a new place to live.

D. was the first to go in early March. She is an 82-year-old woman who has lived in the building for 17 years. She just had rotator cuff surgery in November and is still recovering. She was able to find a nice apartment just a couple blocks away, and although the move was pretty stressful for her, she is doing really well now.

I will be the second to go. I found a house just a half mile away and am in the process of moving. J. is an older man with cerebral palsy; moving won't be an easy task for him, and he hasn't found a place yet. N. is a physical therapist at one of the local hospitals; he has bought a townhome that is being built. P. doesn't know what she will do. And as for the others, I don't know their plans, but one woman had just moved in a couple months before being told she has to move.

This has caused a lot of disruption for a lot of people. There are other buildings here where many others also are being evicted in this same way. In the end I think this has been a blessing for me and the others in this building, but I am disappointed with the way it was done: getting a letter right before the holidays, being pressured to move within a short period of time, being told ONU would work with us yet they hold us to a 45-day notice (right to the very day!). And seems to me, they have the resources (manpower and vehicles) to help people move if they were truly interested in working with us. It cost D. $500 to have movers move just her furniture two blocks away. Her friends had already packed and moved all that they could. It seems to me lending a hand is the least the university could do.

Comments

Honestly, how could they be expected to lend a hand when their fat, ring-laden fingers are stuck in pies all about town? PS- The phrase "the rather shitty way this came to be" is brilliant; I love it. Use it often.

Well, they must be getting a nice chunk of money from the Bears because they are on a mission to own Bourbonnais. I heard they approached the funeral home owners to buy them out after the fire there and that they are building a $3 million(?) dollar chapel on campus. They already bought the office building next door to the funeral home. When they buy Dairy Queen and bulldoze it, there will be a real uproar in Bourbonnais, though! lol

Just a woman and her bike(s) journeying on, trying to live a simpler life in a fast-paced world. This blog is about that journey, just bits and pieces of my life, as I try to live an active, healthy life comprised of real food, deep faith, and lots of Mother Nature.